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What is Social Thinking®?
Social Thinking® is a cluster of many concepts and strategies, the foundations of which were pioneered by Michelle Garcia Winner () that, when utilized in a cognitive-behavioral approach, help individuals to understand and make sense of the social world in which we live. Many of the curriculum resources utilized in school social work encompass concepts or elements of Social Thinking. For example, The Zones of Regulation includes Social Thinking language, concepts, and terminology. The Social Detective and Superflex curricula also relate directly to Social Thinking and are considered part of the Social Thinking group of concepts and strategies. Utilizing Social Thinking tools and resources in the school setting, taps into social competency skills such as self-awareness, perspective-taking, problem-solving, and pro-social communication.
What are Some Common Social Thinking Terms and Phrases?
Expected Behavior: Things people do or say that make others have "comfortable" or good thoughts about us.
Unexpected Behavior: Things people do or say that make others have not-so-good or "uncomfortable" thoughts about us.
Whole Body Listening: Using your whole body to show that you are listening to and thinking about others. We aim to listen with our whole body whenever we are learning or with others.
Key components include:
Brain-- Brain is thinking about what is being said. When your brain is in the group you are "on-topic"
Eyes-- Eyes are looking at/near the speaker. Am I comfortable with eye contact? If not, how can I still show that I am listening by looking?
Body--Body faces the speaker. Do I listen best standing or sitting? Do I listen best sitting on the floor, on a chair that spins, on a chair that bounces, etc.?
Mouth--Mouth is quiet. Mouth is at "level 0" . What does my mouth look like when I'm focusing/listening? Am I chewing on something, is my mouth still?
Ears--Ears are listening to the person speaking
Hands--Hands are calm and to ourselves. How do my hands look when I'm listening? Are they still? At my sides? On the table? Keeping busy with a fidget?
Feet--Feet are calm and to themselves. How do my feet look when I'm listening? Are they still? Are they tapping/wiggling a bit?
Heart--Caring about what the other person is saying. Using "nice words."
The Group Plan: When everyone is thinking about and doing the same thing this is called following the group plan. If someone is thinking about or doing their own thing this is called following one's own plan. It is expected that when we are with others we follow the group plan.
Thinking with Your Eyes: We use our eyes to look at people and the environment around us. When we think with our eyes we are observing and interpreting non-verbal social cues in order to understand others' thoughts, feelings, and intentions. We also show that we are thinking with our eyes when we look at people, situations, etc. Our eyes are like arrows and they point to what we are thinking about.
Body in the Group: Keeping our body in the group means that we are facing and turned towards the group. Our body is not too close and not too far away. When our body is in the group we are showing that we are interested in others and following the group plan.
Brain in the Group: We show that our brain is in the group when we are thinking about others and the group plan. It looks like staying on-topic and not becoming distracted by other thoughts.
Heart in the Group: When we show that our heart is in the group this means we are using nice words and tone with others.
Flexible Thinking: Flexible thinking is when we are able to think about different points of view and different contexts. We do not get "stuck" in our ideas, but show that we are flexible by adjusting our thinking as we need to.
Stuck Thinking: Stuck thinking is when our brain gets stuck on thinking about things in only one way, from one point of view, or without taking into account context. When we show stuck thinking it is hard to follow the group plan. When we are with others it is expected that we show flexible thinking instead of stuck thinking.
Size of the Problem: Most problems we have are considered "small problems". These might be things like losing a game, breaking your pencil, or not winning the raffle drawing. When we have these problems no one is in danger of getting hurt, usually very few people are affected, and we have a quick solution for them. Medium problems take longer to solve and big problems take even longer to solve and could involve danger like someone getting very hurt. We want to make sure that our reactions match the size of our problem.Small problems only need small reactions!
For more information about Social Thinking, please visit the website listed below!
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